you ever get that feeling?

Do you ever get that feeling like, ah man i’ve already messed up so what’s the point in going back?  That is exactly what I’ve been feeling about this blog over the past 58 days.  But, now is as good as time as any to start it back up…

Here is a small catch up on our lives here in Naples: (I apologize for the randomness)

1. Our little girl will be 8 months this Sunday!  CRAZY!!  she is growing so much.  She doesn’t have any teeth yet, but she is drooling like they’re coming in all the time.  She is sitting up very good and babbling a lot.  No solid foods yet… we think she is sort of picky like her momma!  No crawling yet, maybe she will start in texas??
2. We have completely moved into our wonerful home!  Julia and I are planning on posting a Byler Cribs video on our facebooks sometime this week so be on the look out for that!
3. Julia has enjoyed getting sucked into a few novels.  Her love has traditionally been historical fiction, but she has enjoyed some straight up fiction recently.
4. Kenny read all the Harry Potter books in 17 days.  I commend JK Rowling for capturing my every free moment for those 2 1/2 weeks.  SO GOOD!
5. We went to our first Napoli soccer game in November!  We played against Parma and won 2-0.  It was a very fun experience and we plan on going back again too!
6. We traveled to Rome for Thanksgiving and learned how difficult it is for us to travel with a 7 month old!  We a great time, though and got to see some of the major sights!  I look forward to going back with family and friends!
7. We found out last week that the baby inside of Julia is another Girl!!!  So fun!  No name yet, but just when we think we both like a name… we look up the meaning and it totally ruins it!!  How would you like your name to mean “ugly head”?? HA!
8. We had a great Christmas party this past Saturday with the friends that we first made at the hotel we stayed when we first got here.  It has been great to have these ‘battle buddies’ to share experiences with.  The Harrington’s and Bailey’s have been so fun to get to know and hang out with!!
9. This past Sunday, Julia and I tried to go Christmas shopping in downtown Naples.  It is about a 20 minute drive to get there.  When we first get there we realize we forgot to bring Madeline some food for the trip!  So we drive back home and try again. When we finally reach downtown again, we were so disappointed that we couldn’t find many tourist shops and their infamous Christmas Alley was nothing to write home about.  Unfortunately, this shopping trip was very unsuccessful!!  We didn’t buy anything!! 
10. We come back to the US this Saturday.  We fly into Dallas and Madeline has her first pre-op appointment on Monday.  Her surgery is Wednesday.  I’ll post more about this in the upcoming days, but please pray for a surgery done well and a quick recovery for her!!

That is all for now!!  check out our facebook pages for recent photos!

The Amalfi Coast

Monday was Columbus day, a federal holiday, so Julia was off work!  We decided to take advantage of the holiday and check out some local sites.  Our plan was to go to Pompeii (Kenny has always dreamed of going here) and then cruise back on the Amalfi coast.  Our fun neighbors in our hotel were planning the same thing, so we decided to make the trip together!!  Well, Monday was full of rain so we decided to drive the Amalfi coast and save Pompeii for another day. 

It only takes about 45 minutes to get to Pompeii and about 20 more minutes to get to the farthest part of the Amalfi coast from our house!  Our first stop along the coast was in Vietri Sul Mare.  Vietri is known for its beautiful hand-crafted and painted pottery and ceramics.  Julia and I spent about 30 minutes trying to decide which design we wanted for our home.  We agreed that each time we went back we would purchase an additional piece for our home.  We began with a beautiful pitcher.  Our design is a blue background with various fruit.

Our traveling team also decided to grab some warm hot chocolate.  Julia and Sara showed off how great the hot chocolate was.  It was like heated Hershey syrup!  So thick and rich. 

After Vietri Sul Mare we continued along the scenic road.  Even on a dark, rainy day, the Amalfi Coast does not disappoint.  We drove through the small towns of Cetara, Amalfi, Praiano, and then stopped for lunch in Positano.  Now, driving down this road is no easy task.  The back and forth, narrow roads with tour busses coming the opposite direction makes it very difficult (thankfully, I decided on the automatic car for this trip!)  It also is very difficult for anyone who get the least bit motion sickness.  Our poor friends, the Harrington’s, had both of their kids get sick because of the motion!  Needless to say, they went on and didn’t join us for lunch.

Positano is a very cool town that has a one way road going into the town and that same road leading out of the town.  We found a restaurant that our guide-book recommended.  I ordered the tuna steak and Julia got a rib eye steak.  We both loved it!  Unfortunately, we didn’t have a whole lot of time to walk the town, but we figured it was ok since we live just a little over an hour away.  So we snapped some pictures of the beautiful view and finished our stop in Positano with some delicious gelato and headed back on the road. 

Unfortunately, the roads were a bit too much for Julia as well.  We had to pull over and let her say goodbye to that steak!  I know that if I (kenny) wasn’t driving, i would have been the first to get sick.  But we’ll know for next time to take some Bonine or dramamine!!  Check out the pics…

Car number 2

Well, we recently got our car number two.  Originally, we had no plans to get 2 cars.  We had thought that the Navy base and our home would be close enough to the heart of Napoli that we would be taking public transportation everywhere.  Boy were we wrong!  The Naval Support Site is located about 20 minutes outside of the heart of the city, about 15 minutes past where the easy public transportation access.  Now, we could probably get to the support site and our home by city bus, but that would take quite a while.

So, we purchased another Volvo!!  This is a 1999 STANDARD Volvo.  Funny, neither Julia nor I have ever owned a standard car before.  I have driven a few of my friends standards before, but never on a regular basis.  We figured that if we are truly going to be European, then I need to convert to a standard!!  So far, it has been working out quite well.  The traffic doesn’t make it any easier, but I make sure only to take it out when I plan on driving mostly highways.  (Today, however, I got lost and had to manuever around in crazy narrow busy streets… I only stalled out twice… I was quite proud of myself!  HA)

Well here are some pictures:

Upcoming posts:  Blessings and Day at Amalfi

Our Home…soon to be

Well today was the day for the “Pre-contract” signing for our new home here in Napoli.  After triple checking the checklist for myself and the Landlord, I am proud to say that everything went very well for us today.  The next step before move in is to have an inspection.  The first available date for our inspection is next Thursday, October 14.  After the inspection passes we need to wait 5 business days to sign the final contract.  That means that we are looking to hopefully move in on or around Oct 22!!!

Some details about the house:  5 bedroom, 3 bathroom with a kitchen upstairs and downstairs.  Fireplace in the upstairs kitchen.  6 patios including one off the kitchen and out of every bedroom.  The Landlord (who is SO VERY nice by the way) has also offered for us to use his beautiful antique furniture.  This includes a piano, master bedroom suite, marble topped tables, grandfather clock, 4 persian rugs, a huge china hutch, and a huge bookshelf is coming.  Check out Julia’s facebook for pictures on the inside of the house. 

Outside the house includes newly planted bermuda grass, beautiful flowers, two car garage, huge bbq area and additional pavement for basketball or something.Here are some on the outside i was able to scan in today.  (We still don’t have our camera charger!!)

Kenny’s Job

I have found this quite amusing for some time now, but only recently have I thought that it is something for me to blog about.

As I mentioned before, it has been Julia and I’s dream to live and work in an international setting.  Only the past couple of years have we been pursuing this possibility which has been driven by an occupation for Julia.  Inevitably, every time we share with someone the great news of our dream coming true, the common question always asked within the next 3 minutes is, “Kenny, what are you going to do?”  Now, most people mean that very innocently and are truly very interested in my well-being.  However, there has been a plethora of occasions where people really want to say, “Now, Kenny… you know it is your husbandly and manly duty to bring home the money to support your family” or at the very least “Your not just going to stay at home are you?”

Even since being here in Italy, and more specifically on the Naval base, where being the dependant is not always common for a man, I have received many comments like “so when are you going to get a job” or my personal favorite so far, “Oh, so you are going to be the stay at home Mom while your wife works, huh?”

Now, for setting the record straight.  I am very thankful that God has instilled in me a great confidence in my current role.  Above any occupational vocation, I have embraced the calling from God to raise a family that knows, loves, and fears the Lord.  I consider it my primary responsibility to teach Madeline about the love of Jesus through the love, grace, and intentional effort I get to show her.

For those people out there who still do not quite understand what I am saying above, I will refrain from attempting to justify any further by telling you exactly where my time goes.  I will, however, tell you that my job title should not be seen as a stay at home mom, or even a stay at home Dad.  Instead, I would like to be known as a FULL TIME FATHER.

How long will this role of FULL TIME FATHER exist?  Forever.  Perhaps in a few months when things settle down here and Madeline’s surgery has been taken care of,  I will try to find an additional occupation that will allow me to carry out my primary responsibilities as well as my personal passions.  Until then, I will be grateful for the confidence that God has instilled in me for my current role as a full-time Father.

Additional blogs coming this week:  Kenny’s new car, update on house, and ‘what a blessing’.

Weekend fun – lots of food!!!

This past weekend was absolutely wonderful aside from the fact that Madeline and Julia came down with a little cold together.  Thank you Jesus it didn’t have to be all of us!  Saturday Julia and I sat around the house and relaxed…we watched The Godfather and went out to eat dinner at a place called Dom’s.  Dom’s is a great place to know about because they open for Dinner before 7:30pm (which is when everyone else opens up for the Italians) and they are right on the water!!  We both got bruschetta for an appetizer and Julia got spaghetti w/meat sauce while I enjoyed a penne pasta with chrimp and clams.  We shared in a fried seafood platter including squid, octopus, and shrimp while enjoying little nutella pizza bites for dessert.  Yummy!

Sunday, we visited our first church here in Naples.  We really liked it a lot and were suprised to see so many people we knew there.  Agape fellowship is an African American church so I really enjoyed the authentic worship experience as well as the enthusiastic preaching!  It is such a joy to be in the presence of other believers worshiping God!

After church, we met up with a couple from Julia’s work to eat out.  They took us to an AMAZING place… it overlooked the Meditteranean and had vineyards surrounding the resturaunt…everything on the menu was grown on the property (including the meat)!!  They warned us ahead of time, and I can now testify they weren’t lying when they said it would take all of 3 hours to eat our lunch!  At 1:15pm we sat down and said we want the menu.  The appetizer course consisted of about 20 different little appetizers to feast on.  Everything from buffalo mozzarella to some pickled squash stuff that was so delicious.  The pasta course had 3 different ones to choose from (the mushroom spinach tortellini was my favorite).  The meat course was unbelieveable…steak, pork, sausage, lamb…all cooked to perfection!  Dessert was fun cream cake w/rasberry something liquor…and the expresso was suprisingly good as well!  The white wine we had was made on the premesis and was infused with apricots right in our pitcher!!  SOO GOOD!  We finished up at 4:30 and had such a delightful time with this other couple!  They have 3 children and both work at the elementary school w/Julia.  The husband has also helped connect me with opportunities to coach and be a part of the club soccer team!!  We will definitely be hanging out with them some more!!

Who would have thought that I would be living the dream like this… living in Italy…eating amazing food…and coaching club soccer???  THANK YOU JESUS!

*I’m sorry we aren’t posting more pictures… our camera battery is dead and the charger accidently got packed up with everything being shipped over here.  We won’t get it for about another month!!!  yikes!  We are trying to borrow someones camera in the mean time…my apologies!

Reason for departure

I was recently called out by a friend that while she was very excited for my family and I, she had no earthly idea as to why we moved to Italy! (thanks Kristin!)  As I reflect over the past 6 weeks of my life I realize that this could totally be possible for many people since it all happened so very fast!!!

When Julia and I first began dating (Feb 21 ish 2001) we talked about how our heats desire was to live internationally when we grew up.  We agreed that should our relationship last, we would be supportive of the other persons desires to work and live outside the US.  As time went on and we became engaged, our thoughts about what living internationally looked like were directed toward a mission sending agency of some sort.  Our understanding of Mission lead us to seek out an agency that had the ability to support us while we carried out God’s work.  Before this was to occur, however, I knew I wanted to go to seminary.

While at George W. Truett seminary at Baylor, I learned so much about the Mission of God and was able to see more in-depth how God carried out His mission throughout the Old Testament.  My three years at Truett transformed my understanding of Mission and Julia and I then knew that we no longer wanted to be sent by an agency, but from a local church. 

Just so happened, that was the same time we transitioned to a church in Waco that also believes in sending out its people to be apart of what God is doing around the world.  Antioch Community Church in Waco has more than 44 teams working in 23 different countries around the world.  In order to begin the process of being sent out from Antioch, one needs to attend their training school.  Naturally, Julia and I quickly filled out and application and then began to pray about this opportunity.  Surprisingly, we felt like God was saying this is not the direction for us to go.  Reluctantly, we did not turn in the applications.

A year later, we discovered about the opportunity for Julia to teach for the Department of Defense (DOD).  She put in her application in November 2008.  Keeping her application current and trying to contact all the principals, we did not hear a word from anyone until May 2010 (this past summer)  It was for a PE job in Japan.  The interview went well, but we didn’t get it.  On August 5 or 6, Julia gets contacted by a principal in Italy to interview for a 1/2 PE 1/2 reading job.  August 10 we find out that Julia is hired and the process begins.  Paperwork gets turned in by Aug 17 and life is in crazy uproar to 2 weeks.  On Sept. 1-3 all of our stuff gets packed up and shipped off to Italy.  Sept. 3 our Official Passports w/ Visas come in and on Sept. 8 we fly of Houston to come to Naples Italy. 

It was a crazy whirlwind for sure!  And I know we could not have done everything necessary without the amazing help and grace from our families and friends from Baylor!  Thank you all!

Home is where the heart is!!

Finding a house is a fun event!  You get to dream up all that you’ve ever wanted and search until you find that perfect place.  Especially for Julia and I, who for the past 5 years, have lived in a one or two bedroom apartment at Baylor.  Now is our time to really dream big and use your tax dollars wisely to find us a great home 🙂 .

Normally, people who come to Naples through the military only serve a 2-3 year tour and then they move on.  So if they find a place that isn’t just right, then all they have to do is suck it up for a little while and they’ll move on.  We, however, have the mentality that we will be here for a much longer term.  If all goes well, we hope to raise our kids up in Italian schools and let them call Italy their home!  So when we look for a house, some of the thoughts that go through our mind include…”Is there a school nearby?  Is there a nice area for the kids to run around and play?  Where could we sit as a family to do homework or play family games together?”

In case you are not aware, my current full-time job is house hunting.  Madeline and I are going out almost every day hunting for the perfect place to live.  We’ve seen older 4 bedroom homes that look over the Mediterranean, smaller 3 bedroom homes that are very modern and also some nice 5-6 bedroom homes that are out toward the country area.  In the midst of my search, I have discovered that the neighborhood our house will be in is just as important as the house itself.

Now, I know what you must be thinking… did you just say Mediterranean as in the Mediterranean Sea?  Oh yes… we have seen a few homes that have quite THE beautiful view and yet we struggle because Julia and I both know that it probably would not be the most IDEAL place to have small children grow up.  See, EVERYONE wants a view of the Mediterranean, therefore these areas are quite crowded and very busy with traffic, etc.

So far, Julia and I have decided that we are country folk.  We enjoy the slower pace of life and the neighbors that sit out on their front porch to watch the wind blow.  Sooo tomorrow morning, Madeline and I will head out bright and early to check out some good sized homes in the ‘country’ part of the area.  We will post some pictures when we can…but we are borrowing a camera right now since we accidently packed up our camera’s charger.. and it is dead now!  Please ask the Lord to speak to us and show us where it is best for us to live!!  We so desire HIS best in all of this!  Thanks friends.

Culture Shock

It’s been about 12 days since we’ve been in Italy now.  Normally, a culture shock would not hit someone for a couple of months.  However, Julia and I are already experiencing quite a bit of it and it’s not what you think.  So far, the Italian culture is beautiful… in fact, i wish we were even more immersed than what we are.   No, it’s the military culture that we are adapting to that is quite different for us.

Now, don’t misunderstand me, I am not supposing a judgement on the military culture in any way… it is just quite different from our central Texas, Baylor culture.  One thing we have noticed about this new culture is the importance of ‘status’.  It seems rather expected that we understand the way of hierarchy and issue the due respect to those who have earned it.  Unfortunately for Julia and I, we don’t have a clue about the difference between a private, major, or captain, officer vs. enlisted etc.  (Honestly, I kind of like the fact that I am so ignorant regarding this so I can just treat everyone with the same respect I give any human being!) But just to be clear, Julia and I have now been given a color print out ‘cheat sheet’ by our kind neighbors to help us better understand the rankings.

Speaking of our kind neighbors, we have met many friends who do not seem to place a demand on this hierarchical recognition.  These people, though fewer, tend to be the one’s who live near us (in our same hotel) and the one’s who are the similar age as us.  Perhaps this is because these people see that we are ignorant civilians and dispense grace to us while we learn… but either way, it is nice. 

In addition to the hierarchical portion of this culture, there is also a culture of acronyms that far surpass anything I have ever seen (yes even in my very high acronymic Baylor culture!)  Here is an example sentence… “After you drop your child at the CDC in the SS make sure you head to the NEX where you will start your AO and talk about registering with the CMVRO.”  This type of sentence happens multiple times a day for us!!  Too bad Rosetta Stone doesn’t make a program for military language.  HA!  Julia and I are slowly learning the acronyms, but we are often displaying our ignorance by asking for an English translation from these Americans ironically enough.

Thank you for your prayers during this time of transition!  I’m sure that as we learn this new military culture we will be able to maneuver around the necessary portions.  Today is also Julia’s first day of school…so I am so excited to see how that turns out.. we will be sure to let you know!

5 Months Old today!

Happy 5 month birthday Madeline!

Without trying to sound too much like a high school couple celebrating month anniversaries, I wanted to take some time to celebrate the birth of our beautiful baby girl.  As you can see below, she has changed SOO much over the past 5 months.  Madeline has adapted to our new time change soo well.  When she arrived, she didn’t waste any time sleeping right through the first night.  She has also been so good about being on the go and taking her much needed naps in her car seat while being pushed around town in the stroller.

Only recently has she been getting pretty fussy during the evening times.  Also, in celebration of her 5 month, Madeline got her first ever cold.  She ran a fever of 99.6 with  a very stuffy nose.  I think the stuffy nose hurt Julia and I worse than Madeline.  Madeline sure is a trooper!

  Madeline Born

 Madeline 1 month

 Madeline 2 month

  Madeline 3 month

  Madeline 4 month

  Madeline 5 month

I am very excited about the upcoming months here in Naples.  Now that Orientation is completed, I will be able to spend some amazing quality time with my daughter.  We will spend some good quality time with Jesus, we will go look at future houses together, learn Italian together and hopefully be able to get a few good books in together!

I am also excited about this blog.  It will be used as a journal of sorts of our journey.  Julia and I are so blessed to be a part of what God is doing in this world.  God placed a huge passion in our hearts to live internationally and raise our family to learn about various cultures and languages.  We are so amazed and grateful at how God is allowing these desire to come into fruition.